


Frayed Edges

by Absolute_Zero (Absolutely_Corrupted)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Aftermath of Betrayal, Dementors, Emotional Intimacy, Friendship, Gen, Grief, Hurt/Comfort, James Potter Lives
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-10 17:59:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17430785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Absolutely_Corrupted/pseuds/Absolute_Zero
Summary: James Lives AU.Lily is dead, Peter is a traitor, and Harry won't stop crying. James feels like he's falling apart at the seams. Just when he thought it couldn't get worse, his two remaining friends go missing.





	Frayed Edges

“JAMES!” The shout, more than the sensation of being violently shaken, is what brings him back to the land of the living. He inhales sharply in surprise – as he’s got absolutely no clue where he is or what’s going on – only for his aggressor to gasp and abruptly drop his prone form.

James lets out a low groan when his head cracks against the floor and immediately his skull is _throbbing._ Through the pain, he forces his eyes open so he can glare at whomever caused it. He catches a glimpse of disheveled black hair and steely grey eyes before hands are once more on his shoulders, this time providing support so he can sit up.

“Sirius…” His voice is weaker than he’d like and he coughs to clear it. “What happened?”

The grip on his shoulders tightens. “Pettigrew sold you out,” he growls viciously. “When I get my hands on that rat I’m going to tear him limb from-”

For a moment, he doesn’t understand. Then tonight’s events rush back in and he struggles to his feet. “ _Lily!”_ He shoves away his best friend’s hands and looks around for a glimpse of her deep red hair. “Voldemort was here – did she get away? Are she and Harry alright?”

Sirius pales. “I don’t know,” he says in a voice barely above a whisper. “I came when the wards shattered and saw your body and thought the worst. But James,” and here his voice cracks, “The damage I saw from the outside…”

“No,” he says, unwilling to even consider what his friend is trying to prepare him for. He shakes off his well-meaning hands and half-stumbles, half-runs towards the stairs. Sirius catches up quickly, steadying him each time his balance fails.

James doesn’t hear a thing until he clears the last step. “Aaa!” The relief caused by that soft, mewling cry almost brings him to his knees.

“Harry!” His previously weak voice is now strong with hope. _He’s alive!_ If he is, chances are Lily is as well-

The sight that greets them is not at all what James expected. The room is trashed, with half the ceiling and two of the walls completely gone. Harry is sobbing pitifully in his crib. There’s blood trickling down from his forehead. And Lily…

“No.” This time he does fall to his knees, but not in relief. “Please, no. Not you – not you, Lily.”

“James,” Sirius says. “…I think he’s dead.”

He jerks his eyes back towards Harry in horror, but no, he’s still alive. Crying, but _alive_. “What-” Sirius gestures to something on the ground. “Is that…?”

“I think so, yeah.”

It hardly seems possible. This monster, the one who haunts his nightmares and has spent the better part of two years hunting his family, dead at last? James struggles to feel anything beyond disbelief. It hardly seems real, perhaps because for all his fear, he’d never imagined it would take his wife’s life to stop him.

“Daddy?” Harry’s pitiful cry reminds him that he still has someone who needs him. Someone who’s more important than his grief.

“Shh, Harry,” James stumbles over rubble and reaches down to scoop his baby up, eyeing the blood on his face with concern. A quick conjuration leaves him with a soft rag that he uses to wipe off the excess.

“It doesn’t look too bad,” Sirius says from where he’s leaning over his shoulder. “Just a cut, really.”

James doesn’t say anything in return, having some inkling of what he’s about to find. After all, there’s no debris in Harry’s crib. If anything, it looks like his crib was the epicenter of whatever blast destroyed the room. _Lily, what did you_ do _?_

Sirius hisses out a surprised breath when the full shape becomes apparent. “What kind of curse leaves a mark like that?”

He hugs Harry tighter to his chest. “I don’t know.” Frowning heavily, James chances a glance at the wand and discarded cloak lying on the ground by the door. They look unreasonably innocuous considering they’d belonged to the darkest wizard of their time. “We should-” his voice cracks so he pauses and starts over. “We should check his wand. Harry may look okay, but it could be a curse that needs time to take effect. Even if that’s not the case, we still need to know what caused it.” It’s standard operating procedure to handle all non-immediately life-threatening injuries the muggle way, at least until they know that healing magic won’t adversely interact with the residual curse magic.

“Right,” he says. He moves off to perform the charm.

He leaves Sirius to it, too busy with comforting Harry and looking anywhere but towards Lily. “You’ll be okay little guy. _We’ll_ be okay. I promise.” The rocking and the whispered assurances don’t seem to do much. Though honestly, what does he expect? His son is traumatized, possibly cursed-

“James!”

The panic in Sirius’ voice makes him jolt. “What?” He scrambles over to him, eyes drawn towards the sickly green glow that illuminates the tip of the wand on the floor.

“There were only three spells cast within the last hour,” Sirius looks to be caught between horror and surprise. “All killing curses.”

“Surely you can’t mean…” It’s unheard of, what Sirius is suggesting. Nobody survives the killing curse _. Nobody._ “Maybe he missed,” James says. It’s unlikely, but not impossible.

He shakes his head. “You and I both know what kind of damage the curse leaves on inanimate objects. It’s localized, focused. Not like this.” He gestures towards the clear semicircle around Harry’s crib. “Maybe I’m mistaken, but that looks like some sort of shield – one that reflected rather than absorbing a curse.”

“…But there’s no shield charm in existence that can withstand the killing curse.”

“Maybe,” Sirius says, “But I’m also pretty sure I’ve never seen a curse mark like _that._ ” It’s true. The perfectly formed lightning bolt is unique to any spell or curse mark he’s ever seen. And considering the course of the war over the past two years, that’s saying a lot.

“Enough, we’ll worry about it later. For now, we need to get help.”

“Right. Let’s-”

Sirius is cut off by a thunderous boom as someone downstairs slams open the front door. “JAMES! LILY!”

James and Sirius exchange startled glances. “Is that-?”

“Hagrid.” Sirius looks utterly baffled for a moment before raising his voice. “We’re up here!”

The groundskeeper makes it up the stairs in record time and immediately starts blubbering when he sees Lily’s prone form. This of course sets Harry off, which sets James himself off. Soon, he has to sink to the floor because he’s crying and shaking so hard he’s afraid he might drop his son.

Sirius, the only one not crying, takes charge. With only a little coaxing, he takes Harry and passes him off to Hagrid. He says something to the half-giant which James can’t hear through his hysterics, then reaches down to haul him to his feet. “Come on, Prongs. You don’t need to be in here. None of us do.”

Together, they march downstairs.

There’s another, longer conversation between Sirius and Hagrid. James is only just starting to come back to himself when his best friend claps Hagrid on the arm and then steps back to disapparate.

“What? Siri-” It’s too late. He’s already gone. James wipes ineffectually at his face and staggers to his feet. “Hagrid, where did Sirius go?”

“He said somethin’ ‘bout a rat and told me to get you and yer boy to Dumbledore.”

James feels the blood drain from his face.


End file.
